But my Onegin the whole evening heeds
only Tatiana:
not the shy little maiden,
4 enamored, poor and simple —
but the indifferent princess,
the inaccessible
goddess of the luxurious, queenly Neva.
8 O humans! All of you resemble
ancestress Eve:
what's given to you does not lure,
incessantly the serpent calls you
12 to him, to the mysterious tree:
you must have the forbidden fruit supplied to you,
for paradise without that is no paradise to you.
XXVIII
How changed Tatiana is!
Into her role how firmly she has entered!
The ways of a constricting rank
4 how fast she has adopted!
Who'd dare to seek the tender little lass
in this majestic,
this careless legislatrix of salons?
8 And he had stirred her heart!
About him in the dark of night,
as long as Morpheus had not come flying,
time was, she virginally brooded,
12 raised to the moon a dying eye,
dreaming that someday she might make
with him life's humble journey!
XXIX
All ages are to love submissive;
but to young virgin hearts
its impulses are beneficial
4 as are spring storms to fields.
They freshen in the rain of passions,
and renovate themselves, and ripen,
and vigorous life gives
8 both rich bloom and sweet fruit.
But at a late and barren age,
at the turn of our years,
sad is the trace of a dead passion....
12 Thus storms of the cold autumn
into a marsh transform the meadow
and strip the woods around.
XXX
There is no doubt: alas! Eugene
in love is with Tatiana like a child.
In throes of amorous designs
4 he spends both day and night.
Not harking to the mind's stern protests,
up to her porch, glass vestibule,
daily he drives.
8 He chases like a shadow after her;
he's happy if he casts
the fluffy boa on her shoulders,
or touches torridly
12 her hand, or if he parts in front of her
the motley host of liveries, or picks up
her handkerchief.
XXXI
She does not notice him,
no matter how he strives — even to death;
receives him freely at her house; at those
4 of others says two or three words to him;
sometimes welcomes with a mere bow,
sometimes does not take any notice:
there's not a drop of coquetry in her,
8 the high world does not tolerate it.
Onegin is beginning to grow pale;
she does not see or does not care;
Onegin wastes away:
12 he's practically phthisical.
All send Onegin to physicians;
in chorus these send him to spas.
XXXII
Yet he's not going. He beforehand
is ready to his forefathers to write
of an impending meeting; yet Tatiana
4 cares not one bit (such is their sex).
But he is stubborn, won't desist,
still hopes, bestirs himself;
a sick man bolder than one hale,
8 he with a weak hand to the princess
writes an impassioned missive.
Though generally little sense in letters
he saw, not without reason;
12 but evidently torment of the heart
had now passed his endurance.
Here you have his letter word for word.
Onegin'S Letter To Tatiana
I foresee everything: the explanation
of a sad secret will offend you.
What bitter scorn
4 your proud glance will express!
What do I want? What is my object
in opening my soul to you?
What wicked merriment
8 perhaps I give occasion to!
Chancing to meet you once,
noting in you a spark of tenderness,
I did not venture to believe in it:
12 did not give way to a sweet habit;
my tedious freedom
I did not wish to lose. Another thing
yet separated us:
16 a hapless victim Lenski fell.
From all that to the heart is dear
then did I tear my heart away;
alien to everybody, tied by nothing,
20 I thought: liberty and peace are
a substitute for happiness. Good God!
How wrong I was, how I am punished!